increase/decrease

piraña utria

piraña utria

Senior Member
Cartagena de Indias.
Spanish - Colombian with Caribbean nuanc
Good evening my friends:

When I was participating in my conversation session in the morning, I said a commentary about room’s temperature using this terms:

“It’s hot. I’m going to increase AC’s temperature”. I was trying to communicate my intention of changing AC level from 22°C to 16°C.

My tutor in this session (a non-native speaker who lived in Canada almost 15 years and is a Canadian citizen also) corrected me with a very complicated speech that seemed to me a bit illogical, explaining that the only right way to express my idea in this case is by saying “decrease” instead of “increase”.

Was I right or is there a sort of special rule/usage that I can’t comprehend in this case?

Thanks in advance for your answers,
 
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    • Hi,piraña utria

    I agree with your tutor.
    If it were "increase AC's power" , it would be right.
    In this case the object is "temperature", so I would rather say decrease.

    This is what a non-native thinks with his logic.
    Thanks.
     
    This is very mind-boggling! Very confusing even for a native speaker. From my experience, if I wanted the room cooler I would tell someone that I am turning up the AC and vice versa. When talking about a heater, If I wanted the room cooler I would say I am turning down the heat. I know this isn't the exact wording of your problem but I hope this helps. This is more like a philosophy problem than a language problem!
     
    A good question. If you turn the AC down, does the room get warmer or colder?

    We used to have this problem when we first visited our daughter in Florida.

    We soon decided to agree that if we wanted the room colder we would ask somebody to turn the AC UP - simply because the little lever on the side of the control box was moved upwards to reduce the temperature.

    It works for us.

    I await other replies with interest.

    Rover
     
    Most people I know say they will "turn the temperature down", if they want it colder. Sometimes, they will say "turn it down" as a shorter version. This would be typical whether we are talking about A/C or Heat, so "turn the heat up" would mean turn the temperature up.
     
    If you said “It’s hot. I’m going to increase AC’s temperature”, in fact you were referring to more temperature, so more heat. Because "temperature" is a way of measuring the caloric contents of anythingh, right? From 0 (freezing) to 100 (boiling of water) at normal pression and altitute, in the Celsius or Centigrade scale, as it seems to be your case. So, you said it the other way around, contrary to your meaning. Maybe you should have said better “It’s hot. I’m going to increase the coldness".
    If anyone has another opinion, please let it known to us.
     
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    You're getting tied up because you want to talk about the air conditioning rather than the temperature.The air conditioning doesn't have a temperature, the room's environment does.

    To avoid this mess, just say "lower the temperature."

    It's not the only way, but it's simple.
     
    To me "turn up the AC" would only mean that I was going to make it even colder and 'turn down the AC" would mean it was too cold and I was going to try to get it a little warmer. So I wouldn't say anything about the "temperature" per se. But if I did say anything about the temperature, I would probably say I am going to set the AC to a lower/colder temperature. I wouldn't say I was 'increasing' or 'decreasing' the temperature. Similarly, if I was talking about the heat or the furnace, I would say I'm going to turn up the heat (make it warmer) or turn down the heat (make it a little cooler).
     
    I agree with Losilmer. 22°C to 16°C is not an increase but rather a decrease in temperature. If you say "I’m going to increase AC’s temperature” you're communicating that your intention is to increase the temperature generated by the AC or increase the temperature setting shown by the AC's display. This means you want to make the room hotter.
     
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    You'e evidently too hot. You want to decrease (not increase) the temperature.
     
    I agree with cloudgazer. When you increase a number you are changing it into a greater value. When you decrease a number you are changing it into a lower value. Since 16 < 22 so it should be decrease. But then, I AM a non-native Canadian citizen who have gone though school in Canada for 12 years so I may use the same logic as your tutor. Rest assure I'm not your tutor; I don't tutor anyone.
     
    In fact, what you wanted to do was to "increase" the AC setting, not the temperature. By "increasing" the setting, you are "decreasing" the temperature. Your tutor is simply focussing on your use of the word "temperature" and is correct that you are "decreasing" the temperature by "increasing" the AC setting.
     
    In my area, AC can refer to a machine that only cools the air -- an air conditioner -- or to a system that conditions the air to be either hot or cold -- an air conditioning system (a conflation of the term 'HVAC system'.) So depending on the context (in which the current season is very important), increasing the AC setting can mean increasing the cooling or heating. :) We're having fun now!
     
    cloudgazer said:
    So depending on the context (in which the current season is very important), increasing the AC setting can mean increasing the cooling or heating.
    Click to expand...

    In the context of Pirana Utria's original post, the temperature was too warm and the intent was to use the AC to cool the temperature, so I stand by my opinion that it is the setting that has to be increased in order for the temperature to be decreased.:)
     
    Changing from 22°C to 16°C is lowering the temperature. It can be done by decreasing the heating or by increasing the cooling. I say I am "lowering the thermostat" or "turning the temperature down".

     
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